Mission accomplished
The 11-man build team of ‘Team Niue’ at the finish of their two-week construction of the new day-bed facility.
Matt Wilson with the nurses from Niue Foou hospital.
The new day-bed facility features five units within a precinct that can be enjoyed by patients of the aged-care ward.
The facility’s services block features a kitchen and bathroom housed within a repurposed shipping container - the same container used to the ship the materials for the build from New Zealand.
The kitchen area within the container, which was donated by Royal Wolf.
Over the past nine months, Wairarapa teenager Matt Wilson has combined his love of architecture and design to undertake an aid-style project for a hospital in Niue. In his final instalment he talks about what the new building means to him and what it will mean for the patients.
The last week of the build has been a controlled rush – from cutting holes in the shipping container for the prefab doors and windows to be installed, to installing and painting the slats on the outside of the buildings.
But despite the tight two week turnaround to get the job done, we made it. And the result is something that looks great and is functional, practical, and solid.
A number of the hospital staff complimented our design and say the day-bed wing – with its five units, landscaped garden and services block inside the modified container – will make their job easier.
It has also sparked the idea of adding a specialist child care unit to the hospital too.
But more importantly, the staff believes the new facility will benefit the elderly patients because not only has it increased Niue Foou hospital’s capacity, it also gives the elderly patients a comfortable place to go rather than being confined to their rooms.
It’s obvious the patients already get well cared for here but hopefully this facility will give them an even greater quality of life – and for me, that is what makes the project complete.
We wanted the area to have a name that represents what the facility will be used for, but also to reflect the coming together of the Niuean and New Zealand communities.
Drawing inspiration from the river that runs past our school in the Wairarapa we chose Ruamahanga, which loosely means the joining of two. However, after consultation with local iwi they suggested Ruamahana (“Warm Haven”).
We also wanted a physical reminder of the connection, so I brought a rock from the Ruamahanga River to place in the rock wall surrounding the area, which is fitting given Niue is often called “The rock of Polynesia”.
There were 11 of us – myself, my dad Garry Wilson, Ben Hewitt, Craig Nelson, George Sims, Guy Lewis Jr., Jock Mathewson, Josh Cowan, Phil Stewart, Rennie Aleke and Ryan Sheehan – building on the island, and I just want to thank them all for working so hard to get this project done.
And also a big thank you to all the people on the island who helped, from the guys who did the ground work and hospital staff, to government officials and those who cooked us delicious food, and the generous sponsors and people back in New Zealand who also helped make this happen.
What’s next for me? Well, I don’t know. I like to take every day as it comes. But I’m hopefully going to Victoria University in Wellington next year to get started on my Masters in Architecture.
